Starting To Get The Itch

For those who may not have noticed, barely a week after the Super Bowl and a week before the NBA All-Star Game, Spring Training is about to begin. For the Cubs pitchers and catchers report tomorrow 2/14, while the White Sox pitchers and catchers report Thursday 2/17. You can find a complete list of all the other teams report dates here. It's hard to believe in many respects for us baseball fans, but it's that time of year. Both teams have plenty of questions heading into the regular season, and spring training can provide some answers to those questions. On the other hand, Spring Training can also provide new questions to be asked, due to possible injuries or poor performance. Here's a list of things I'll be keeping an eye on for both teams :

CUBS :

• New Faces : The Cubs weren't too splashy this offseason, but made interesting moves nonetheless. The Carlos Pena rental is intriguing. Even in a down year last year he still hit 28 home runs and still nearly drew 100 walks. Pena's teammate in Tampa Matt Garza is an interesting move too. While not popular in the clubhouse, Garza can be effective with flashes of dominance. Really all he needs to be is a better pitcher than the recently departed Tom Gorzelanny, and the Cubs rotation should improve. While not technically a new face, Kerry Wood took a huge discount to re-sign with the Cubs. Wood pitched very well in an 8th inning role with the Yankees last season. All three players are worth watching this spring.
• Looking For Comeback Years : Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano were huge disappointments for the Cubs. Zambrano had a roller coaster of a season, but I'll say this for him, he finished really strong. If the Cubs get the Zambrano they had from August 9 on, that will be big....but honestly that's nothing new. Ramirez however is a bigger worry, as he posted one of the lowest OPS' since his Pittsburgh Pirate days. He was flat out awful last season, much of it blamed on a slow start and an injured thumb. Ramirez is going to have to have a huge comeback season for the Cubs lineup to work. I will be watching Zambrano's velocity, and Ramirez's bat-speed this spring to see where they're at.
• Tyler Colvin? Hey, he's earned a spot. .816 OPS in 358 At Bats is nothing to sneeze at. Colvin looks like a good hitter, but there's nowhere to put him as long as Pena is at first and Fukudome is in right field. This will be fun to watch Mike Quade handle this situation this spring.

White Sox :

• New Faces : The White Sox were shockingly aggressive this offseason. The most splashy move the White Sox made was the signing of Adam Dunn, but they also signed Jesse Crain and Will Ohman to bolster their bullpen. Dunn is expected to be a Jim Thome type of hitter only much younger and much more of a free swinger. My main concern with Dunn is his ability to hit American League pitching. Will Ohman will be the "loogy" (Left handed relief pitcher that gets one out) while Crain's goal is to be what the Sox hoped Scott Linebrink was going to be when the signed him in 2008. The expectations being a solid 7th inning option with occasional closer duties. Crain has done that throughout his career, and we'll see if it continues. Dunn's ability to recognize pitches, and Crain/Ohman's pitching location are what I'm looking forward to seeing.
• Lineups and Staff : I'll be very curious to see how Ozzie handles the bullpen, and mildly curious to see how Ozzie will stack the batting order. If he has Chris Sale closing games, it looks like they've made up their minds that Sale will enter the regular season as the closer. If he tries Sergio Santos as closer, that may indicate that Sale will be the 5th starter. Lineup wise, I'll be curious to see how Ozzie stacks 3-4-5. Rios-Dunn-Konerko, or Konerko-Dunn-Rios, or some other combination? It'll be interesting to see what Ozzie does this spring in terms of him tipping his hand.
• Paul Konerko : Paulie came off an incredible season. A career season quite frankly. A season which I personally thought priced him off the White Sox. He thought so too judging by certain interviews he's given recently, but here he is ready to finish his long career with the White Sox. I'll be interested to see what kind of shape he's in this spring.

So there you go. Spring Training by in large is pretty nebulous, and unless you're at the games it can be pretty boring. More than anything it serves as a way to slowly get our minds ready for baseball while concurrently decompressing from football, and I say "VIVA"!